Thomas Berwyn Jones (13 February 1940 – 12 January 2007) was a Welsh

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

, and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

, and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1960s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for

Rhymney RFC Rhymney Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based in Rhymney in Wales. The senior team presently plays in the Welsh Rugby Union Division Two East league. Rhymney is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Newport ...

, as a

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

, i.e. number 11 or 14, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Other Nationalities The Other Nationalities rugby league team are a rugby league representative team that usually consists of non-English players. They have also played under the name The Exiles and more recently Combined Nations All Stars. They competed in the first ...

and Commonwealth XIII, and at club level for

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

( Heritage № 690),

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predomi ...

and St Helens, as a , i.e. number 2 or 5.

Background

Berwyn Jones was born in

Rhymney Rhymney (; cy, Rhymni ) is a town and a community in the county borough of Caerphilly, South Wales. It is within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. With the villages of Pontlottyn, Fochriw, Abertysswg, Deri and New Tredegar, Rhymney is ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

, Wales, and he died aged 66 in

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye (Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye and ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, England.

Early career

Jones had a brief career in

with hometown club

in the South Wales Valleys, but it was in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

that he looked set to excel until switching to rugby league.

Bronze medal at Belgrade 1962

He won the

Bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

in the men's

4 x 100 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

at the 1962 European Championships in

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Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, alongside Alf Meakin, Ron Jones and David Jones. He also won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay while competing for Wales at the

1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North Perth. The ...

British record holder

He had been touted as a potential Olympian for 1964 when he was invited to try out for

in 1964. He had been a member of the Great Britain 4 x 110 yards relay team and a British record-holder (10.3 seconds) and champion over

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

Rugby league career

Playing under the ironic alias 'A. Walker', he impressed for Wakefield Trinity in reserve team games against Huddersfield and Doncaster and soon took to the sport. Within nine months he was playing for

, and scored on his international début against France in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

. Berwyn Jones represented

(RL) while at Wakefield Trinity, he played in the 2-19 defeat by St. Helens at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hosted ...

, St. Helens on Wednesday 27 January 1965, to mark the switching-on of new

floodlight A floodlight is a broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions. More focused kinds are often used as a stage ...

s, represented Commonwealth XIII while at Wakefield Trinity in 1965 against New Zealand at Crystal Palace National Recreation Centre,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on Wednesday 18 August 1965, and was selected for the 1966 tour of Australia and New Zealand but did not make the Test team due to the form of Barrow's William "Bill" Burgess and Geoffrey "Geoff" Wriglesworth of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. Berwyn Jones played , i.e. number 2, and scored 2- tries in

's 18-2 victory over

in the 1964–65

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

County Cup The county football associations are the local governing bodies of association football in England and the Crown dependencies. County FAs exist to govern all aspects of football in England. They are responsible for administering club and player ...

Final during the 1964–65 season at

Fartown Ground The Fartown Ground or just simply Fartown is a sports ground located in the Huddersfield suburb of Fartown in West Yorkshire, England and is predominantly famous for being the home ground of Huddersfield Rugby League Club from 1878 to 1992. T ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

on Saturday 31 October 1964. He transferred from Wakefield Trinity to

in 1967/68 for £3,000, where he was joined by Leeds' Geoff Wrigglesworth. The pair formed a potent right wing/centre partnership. Jones scored 26 tries that season, his best haul.

Retirement

He transferred from Bradford Northern to St. Helens during 1969 but scored just two tries before announcing a premature retirement. He died in January 2007 after a battle with

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

References

External links

Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England)St Helens Profile at saints.org.uk
*(archived by web.archive.org
Photograph "Berwyn Jones races clear - Berwyn Jones races clear of the Doncaster cover. - 28/10/1967" at rlhp.co.ukPhotograph "Colin Dixon gets the ball away - Colin Dixon of Halifax gets the ball away despite the attention of Geoff Wrigglesworth in the Boxing Day game at Odsal. - 26/12/1967" at rlhp.co.ukPhotograph "Ken Roberts pulled down - Ken Roberts is pulled down as Berwyn Jones supports. - 23/03/1968" at rlhp.co.ukPhotograph "Going down the steps - Northern players go down the steps to take the field against Keighley. - 13/04/1968" at rlhp.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Berwyn 1940 births 2007 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Bradford Bulls players Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Wales Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics European Athletics Championships medalists Footballers who switched code Great Britain national rugby league team players Medalists at the 1961 Summer Universiade Other Nationalities rugby league team players People educated at Lewis School, Pengam Rugby league players from Rhymney Rugby union players from Rhymney Rugby league wingers Rugby union wings St Helens R.F.C. players Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Great Britain Wakefield Trinity players Welsh male sprinters Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games